I never thought to much about the traffic light enforcement cameras.....until today.

I got home and in the mail was a FRIGGIN TICKET! 95.00 FINE, with a picture of me running a red light last month. (just not a complete stop :rolleyes:)

I HATE THESE CAMERAS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

03 35th Anniversary

03-08-2012, 07:14 PM

I never thought to much about the traffic light enforcement cameras.....until today.

I got home and in the mail was a FRIGGIN TICKET! 95.00 FINE, with a picture of me running a red light last month. (just not a complete stop :rolleyes:)

I HATE THESE CAMERAS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the club!

I got popped by one back in 09 for $75.00

bturner2

03-08-2012, 07:34 PM

They have red light cameras in Columbus now? Those are the biggest rip off ever. Do some searches on them and see how some of the companies that manage them have been cooking the lights to entrap drives with short times between light changes.

http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/

1redTA

03-08-2012, 07:37 PM

the problem with the one I got, near Franklin, TN I think, wasnt the price it was but the thoughy they will report me to the credit agencies

dmayer84

03-08-2012, 07:45 PM

Is the light in the picture? If not you can ask when the last time it was calibrated and all of the maintenance records if you want to fight it.

03 35th Anniversary

03-08-2012, 07:55 PM

When I was popped they sent me a letter with a picture and a link so you could see the complete video of me speeding thru the light online!

thatsmrmastercraft

03-08-2012, 08:16 PM

They tried that in MN and the whole thing got overturned. Thankfully.

medicmoose

03-08-2012, 08:43 PM

Or...move North and keep the plate packed with snow! :)

j.mccreight@hotmail.com

03-08-2012, 08:45 PM

Houston had them for a few years, but they were voted out last year alot of political bs surrounding the cameras. My wife also got a ticket in the mail with a link to view the video, no arguing her case right on red and didn't even try to slow down no brake lights on her car.

epnault

03-08-2012, 09:26 PM

I believe legally you need to be served a ticket by a legal law enforcement officer and unless you are served (not by mail) the ticket is not valid. I believe they need to serve you within 90 days too. Read the fine print on what they sent you. They are not a part of law enforcement but rather a contractor. This is the advice I got when I got a speeding ticket in Phoenix. There is bunch of info on the net as well.

_fng_

03-08-2012, 09:31 PM

I believe legally you need to be served a ticket by a legal law enforcement officer and unless you are served (not by mail) the ticket is not valid. I believe they need to serve you within 90 days too. Read the fine print on what they sent you. They are not a part of law enforcement but rather a contractor. This is the advice I got when I got a speeding ticket in Phoenix. There is bunch of info on the net as well.

I too got a few tickets when I was out in Phoenix and a cop told me the same thing. This was three years ago and have never paid them and had no issues (although not a resident of AZ at time or currently so that may have something to do with it).

I'd be interested how much money those things bring in!

Jerseydave

03-08-2012, 09:31 PM

They sell that plate spray in the back of the car mags that reflects the flash so your plate cannot be photographed. Pretty cool idea if it really works.

(I would not know this, as I am a good driver, really good driver and never run red lights!) :D

rholmes

03-09-2012, 12:03 AM

They sell that plate spray in the back of the car mags that reflects the flash so your plate cannot be photographed. Pretty cool idea if it really works.

Doesn't work, they tested it on mythbusters...

Red light camera's = stomping on our Constitution, juris prudence, etc. Whatever happened to innocent til to proven guilty?.... This is what happens when we sit by and let the gov't take over.... but that is a whole 'nother thread!

Skipper

03-09-2012, 12:04 AM

I used to work as a highway patrolman in the ditch in Phoenix many years ago. We tried a bunch of techniques to get cars to slow down, including rolling road blocks. Still, speeders were a dime a dozen. Car wrecks were frequent. The problem with a wreck was that within a minute there would be another, and another, and another until all of the lanes were clogged and traffic was backed up for miles. This usually happened during the morning or evening rush hour. During the evening it was not uncommon to stop cars that were travelling 80 -100 mph (back then it was 55mph through the ditch).

It had been nearly ten years since I was back in Phoenix when I suprised to find that cars were slowing down for the traffic cameras. There is always some guy that thinks he has things figured out how beat a ticket. Good on you. But I can attest to the difference the traffic cameras made in the ditch.

dmayer84

03-09-2012, 12:39 AM

I used to work as a highway patrolman in the ditch in Phoenix many years ago. We tried a bunch of techniques to get cars to slow down, including rolling road blocks. Still, speeders were a dime a dozen. Car wrecks were frequent. The problem with a wreck was that within a minute there would be another, and another, and another until all of the lanes were clogged and traffic was backed up for miles. This usually happened during the morning or evening rush hour. During the evening it was not uncommon to stop cars that were travelling 80 -100 mph (back then it was 55mph through the ditch).

It had been nearly ten years since I was back in Phoenix when I suprised to find that cars were slowing down for the traffic cameras. There is always some guy that thinks he has things figured out how beat a ticket. Good on you. But I can attest to the difference the traffic cameras made in the ditch.

All true but if the yellow light is not as long as it is supposed to be, or the camera is not calibrated to properly catch those actually going through a red light it is not being enforced correctly.

How often do people that get a speeding ticket go to court asking when was the last time that the radar gun was calibrated? If it happened more often I bet the logs of them being calibrated would be in better order than other wise.

medicmoose

03-09-2012, 06:34 AM

I think that whole thing about calibration is more scepticism/paranoia than an actual problem. I have no problem with red light cameras or photo radar...my philosophy is that you have to earn the ticket. If you don't speed or run red lights you don't have much to worry about.

However, more so true with the red light cameras, these devices take away the bigger picture and human judgement. The camera doesn't see/care if you have a big rig sitting on your a$$ that would never be able to stop as quickly as you if the light turns yellow/red. Making a choice to go through the light rather than get crushed by some jerk driving the semi seems like a good choice....that the camera can't see. Then you have to spend time and money defending your actions in a court rather than to a police officer who may have been able to see the big picture.

This is just one example....you could easily see this happening if the roads are slippery etc. So, I think they are a a necessary evil but they are by no means perfect.

joyner1020

03-09-2012, 09:11 AM

I believe legally you need to be served a ticket by a legal law enforcement officer and unless you are served (not by mail) the ticket is not valid. I believe they need to serve you within 90 days too. Read the fine print on what they sent you. They are not a part of law enforcement but rather a contractor. This is the advice I got when I got a speeding ticket in Phoenix. There is bunch of info on the net as well.

I agree , I have law enforcement in my family ...Grandfather , grandmother , and father all police officers or were b-4 retirement .
They cannot legally prove that ticket ever made it to the mailbox , unless they hand deliver it . My father tells all the friends he knows that ask him to just tear it up . They will usually , but not always, send a follow up ticket about a month or so later , tear it up also . A good idea also is to not put the ticket in YOUR trash , or better yet , Burn it .
Might sound crazy , but I have gotten 3 of these in the last couple years , Tore them all up and I have been pulled over since then and they havent said a word about it , No outstanding ticket bull or nothing ..
Ps -- this also goes for jury duty also --Tear it up

Rockman

03-09-2012, 11:00 AM

Doesn't work, they tested it on mythbusters...

My buddy uses the spray on all his landscaping trucks and plow trucks and it works. He hasn't gotten a ticket for a camera violation at all.

jdl xstar

03-09-2012, 11:07 AM

Holy Cr@p! I can't believe this came up here because I just got one in the mail yeaterday in addition to the one i got a week prior! 158 bucks each!! That is some serious gas money that is just gone! These cameras suck. I was running yellow lights in both cases, they turn red and bam, I'm busted. These must be a cash machine for the city. :mad::mad:

thatsmrmastercraft

03-09-2012, 11:46 AM

I am against the Red Light cameras on principle as they ticket the vehicle owner - not the person (necessarily) who is driving. This is how MN had the cameras removed. I will agree there are way too many people going through red lights - sometimes 2 or 3 after a change. I don't have the answer, but cameras aren't it.

MCVOLS

03-09-2012, 12:33 PM

I was driving my wife's car (registered in her name only) and got one. She sent it back, saying she was not driving, but described that I was. She got a letter saying she no longer owed the fine, and the next day it came to me. No difference for us, but it bought us an extra few weeks to pay.

kkkeating

03-09-2012, 12:56 PM

Where I live they send you a picture with the person in the passenger seat blurred. Too many spouses were receiving a letter in the mail which showed their significant other speeding off somewhere at lunchtime with someone they shouldn’t have been with. Those are the real expensive tickets!

03 35th Anniversary

03-09-2012, 01:00 PM

Where I live they send you a picture with the person in the passenger seat blurred. Too many spouses were receiving a letter in the mail which showed their significant other speeding off somewhere at lunchtime with someone they shouldn’t have been with. Those are the real expensive tickets!

HaHa!!!!

Horrible evil spouses!

thatsmrmastercraft

03-09-2012, 01:41 PM

Where I live they send you a picture with the person in the passenger seat blurred. Too many spouses were receiving a letter in the mail which showed their significant other speeding off somewhere at lunchtime with someone they shouldn’t have been with. Those are the real expensive tickets!

HaHa!!!!

Horrible evil spouses!

:uglyhamme:uglyhamme:uglyhamme

Willski

03-09-2012, 02:11 PM

I drove by a speedtrap camera last year in Tucson, and saw the flash. It was not set up at a red light, but just roadside. I thought it had me, but I never got anything in the mail. Lucky I guess.

aarosurf

03-09-2012, 05:49 PM

I got one of these in college for going right on red without "completely stopping" but I think it was because I had stopped in front of the white line (which they can also get you for). They also gave me a link to watch the video online. What p***ed me off was it was 6:30 am and there were no cars on the road. At $75 it wasn't worth the opportunity cost to go fight it in court - I just paid it.

Since then the city has voted them down. The city DOES make a lot of money off of them, but if I remember right the company that operates them will take about half the cut.

Poulin

03-09-2012, 05:50 PM

come on fellas let's have some fun with this!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo0rae_radar-remi-gaillard_fun

Footin

03-09-2012, 07:33 PM

Mine does have the video avalible, it show me turning right on red at about 15 mph.

I did the crime....I will pay the fine. It just sucks that I got caught like this.

j.mccreight@hotmail.com

03-09-2012, 07:42 PM

come on fellas let's have some fun with this!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo0rae_radar-remi-gaillard_fun

thats funny right there, even when he snapped the cop:uglyhamme

snork

03-09-2012, 07:57 PM

Holy Cr@p! I can't believe this came up here because I just got one in the mail yeaterday in addition to the one i got a week prior! 158 bucks each!! That is some serious gas money that is just gone! These cameras suck. I was running yellow lights in both cases, they turn red and bam, I'm busted. These must be a cash machine for the city. :mad::mad:

Cash machine for contractor / collector / red light operator

Skipper

03-10-2012, 12:30 AM

Federal law mandates that a traffic light must remain yellow for one tenth of a second for every mile per hour of the posted speed limit. A driver travelling at the speed limit who reacts to a light that just turned yellow must decide whether or not he can safely stop before reaching the intersection. This is determined by time and distance.

The problem with most red light violators is that they are not travelling the speed limit but are usually speeding. Often they end up in a situation where they cannot safely stop in the same distance as somebody travelling the speed limit. They end up "running" the red light but blaming the yellow light.

It is easy to convict those people in court by simply timing the cycle of the light. So long as it is yellow for at least one tenth of a second per mile per hour of the speed limit time and distance analysis places them running the red light.

Whether it is a camera or a cop who catches them the fact remains that they entered the plane of the intersection while the light was red.

Ron Grover

03-10-2012, 09:49 AM

In Kansas City there is a big discussion now about red light cameras. They have many throughout the city and at an overwhelming majority of the intersections where there are cameras accidents at those intersections have INCREASED!

My feelings are the cameras are not about safety at all. The cameras are about money for the city and money for the contractors that supply the cameras and maintenance. The people that made the cameras and maintain them get a percentage of all tickets. What does that tell you right their about the incentive to make things safer or write more tickets?

No I have not received a ticket.

Truth is something is backward, as I get older the less respect I have for the police. I thought it was suppose to go the other way.

SkiDog

03-10-2012, 06:08 PM

2 things here. I have a Sony XNV770BT stereo in my truck. Its got a feature on it that alerts you when approaching an intersection that's got cameras on it. It will beep 3 times, and give you plenty of time to adjust your driving. It even does it after they have taken the cameras out. Don't know if it will do it for speed traps though.
Also, a lawyer friend of mine got stopped the other day by a cop that was radaring him in one location and radioing down the road to another cop telling him he was speeding. The cop that stopped him told him he was speeding, going 50 in a 35. He asked the cop if HE actually saw him speeding. Of course he said NO, but that his partner down the road saw him. My buddy say's 'Thats hear-say'. Cop let him go.:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Kyle

03-10-2012, 10:35 PM

Has anyone gotten one when driving with the tailgate down? I'm thinking about lowering the tailgate and running the one by my house every day so that the plate is hidden from the view of the camera. By running it, I mean a right on red without completely stopping. That is how I got one. The other was trying to beat a yellow light that turned red right before I crossed the line.

I hate red light tickets. $75 ea but they don't go on your record as a moving violation for some reason. I asked. They said no. Just pay us and it will go away.

My friend runs up fast to the red light and stops at the line with a middle finger out the window :D and so far all he has gotten were pics taken of a stopped car with a greeting for the camera and no tickets. He does it all of the time.

ahhudgins

03-11-2012, 10:48 AM

Federal law mandates that a traffic light must remain yellow for one tenth of a second for every mile per hour of the posted speed limit. A driver travelling at the speed limit who reacts to a light that just turned yellow must decide whether or not he can safely stop before reaching the intersection. This is determined by time and distance.

The problem with most red light violators is that they are not travelling the speed limit but are usually speeding. Often they end up in a situation where they cannot safely stop in the same distance as somebody travelling the speed limit. They end up "running" the red light but blaming the yellow light.

It is easy to convict those people in court by simply timing the cycle of the light. So long as it is yellow for at least one tenth of a second per mile per hour of the speed limit time and distance analysis places them running the red light.

Whether it is a camera or a cop who catches them the fact remains that they entered the plane of the intersection while the light was red.

The worst intersection on my drive to work has a complete cycle time of 1 minute, 15 seconds (I’ve time it). I know without a doubt that when my light turns green, at least 5 other cars will continue through the intersection on a red light (no cameras). Three of the drivers will be on their cell phone and the other two will be eating their breakfast. It’s just like the old saying “Guns don’t kill people…” Red light cameras don’t CAUSE accidents; it’s the idiot drivers.

shepherd

03-12-2012, 12:47 PM

I got one for speeding on the Anacostia Freeway in D.C. I guess they have cameras linked to radar guns. Unfortunately, I was in a rental car so I had to pay the ticket as well as a fee to the rental car company. :mad:

Poulin

03-14-2012, 08:02 PM

Never received one....but sure wrote a bunch!! Summers coming, let's have a great season and be safe.

shepherd

03-15-2012, 10:01 AM

Never received one....

Why not? Professional courtesy?

scott023

03-15-2012, 03:06 PM

I think that whole thing about calibration is more scepticism/paranoia than an actual problem. I have no problem with red light cameras or photo radar...my philosophy is that you have to earn the ticket. If you don't speed or run red lights you don't have much to worry about.

However, more so true with the red light cameras, these devices take away the bigger picture and human judgement. The camera doesn't see/care if you have a big rig sitting on your a$$ that would never be able to stop as quickly as you if the light turns yellow/red. Making a choice to go through the light rather than get crushed by some jerk driving the semi seems like a good choice....that the camera can't see. Then you have to spend time and money defending your actions in a court rather than to a police officer who may have been able to see the big picture.
This is just one example....you could easily see this happening if the roads are slippery etc. So, I think they are a a necessary evil but they are by no means perfect.

This is exactly my issue with the cameras as well. Add to that the possibility that I'm behind a tractor/trailer, floowing at a reasonable distance, but I can't see the light until it's too late to stop for it because of the height of the trailer.

scott023

03-15-2012, 03:07 PM

Where I live they send you a picture with the person in the passenger seat blurred. Too many spouses were receiving a letter in the mail which showed their significant other speeding off somewhere at lunchtime with someone they shouldn’t have been with. Those are the real expensive tickets!

Ouch, that would be a kick right square.

scott023

03-15-2012, 03:11 PM

Why not? Professional courtesy?

:uglyhamme:uglyhamme:uglyhamme:uglyhamme

can't wait to hear the reply. :D

DJ 50

03-23-2012, 06:04 AM

Why not? Professional courtesy?

If he won't answer I will. Hell yes it's professional courtesy. It's one of the very few perks of the job. I've been pulled over many times and never gotten a ticket because of it.

shepherd

03-23-2012, 11:12 AM

So... one of the perks of being a cop is the ability to break the law with impunity. :cool:

pmkkdx

03-23-2012, 11:49 AM

LOL ... try pulling in behind a cop that is speeding (without lights on) and following him at his speed.

Kyle

03-23-2012, 07:39 PM

This week has sucked as far as the ticket department goes.

Last Friday I got a red light ticket......

This Tuesday my gf got a 36 in a 20 school zone at 3:55 pm school zones close at 4p here. That being said no one was around but the light was flashing

Wednesday I went to court and fought 3 tickets. Got 2 dismissed and had to pay the turning left when the sign said no left turn. I even did it with my boat behind me safely but still got sighted and that ticket stayed. I pay the bastard and head to the post office and the same ars hole who wrote me 3 tickets gave me a 50 in a 35 and it was a 4 lane road. I had no clue that it was a 35 mph road especially with that many lanes. So I was pissed and when he came back with his ticket I let him have it. That mfer has given me 5 tickets in 2 years and 3 of them have been dismissed. Now I go back to court in a few weeks.

Thursday night this week my gf gets a 84 in a 70 driving her HOE. If we were in the SS I can guarantee she would have left him and he could have never cought up. We were driving north and he was driving south and he had to slow down drive through a median and chase us down. If we were in the car we would have punched it to 130 ish and when he busted a U through the median there would be no way of catching us.

4 damn tickets in 7 days. I'm hoping that we can get through tonight without a ticket and break the cycle. Geese

captain planet

03-23-2012, 09:10 PM

Doesn't work, they tested it on mythbusters...

Red light camera's = stomping on our Constitution, juris prudence, etc. Whatever happened to innocent til to proven guilty?.... This is what happens when we sit by and let the gov't take over.... but that is a whole 'nother thread!

Yup....the Ron Paul Thread!!!!! :D:D

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=41582

Footin

03-23-2012, 09:16 PM

ahhhhhhh, slow down.

captain planet

03-23-2012, 09:17 PM

come on fellas let's have some fun with this!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo0rae_radar-remi-gaillard_fun

That video was great!!! :uglyhamme:uglyhamme

medicmoose

03-25-2012, 09:59 AM

... If we were in the SS I can guarantee she would have left him and he could have never cought up. We were driving north and he was driving south and he had to slow down drive through a median and chase us down. If we were in the car we would have punched it to 130 ish and when he busted a U through the median there would be no way of catching us.

That's why they have a little tool called a radio! :D

trickskier

03-25-2012, 11:43 AM

Looks like Red Light Camera's may be a thing of the past in Florida if it's up to this Judge!!!

Pasco judge challenges constitutionality of red light cameras

PORT RICHEY — Thomas Filippone said he doesn't think people should run red lights.

But when he received a citation in the mail from the city of Port Richey saying he was caught on camera running one, the former New Jersey insurance attorney decided not to pay the $158 ticket without a fight. He filed his own 11-page motion to dismiss the ticket, arguing Florida law unconstitutionally places the burden of proof on defendants.

"If they are going to prove I was driving the car, it's their duty under the law to prove the identity of the driver," said Filippone, 45, who maintains his 2002 Nissan Altima crossed the intersection a split second before the light turned red on April 15. "It unjustly shifts burden to me and makes me shoulder the burden of having to prove their case."

Pasco County Judge Anne Wansboro agreed. On Feb. 17, she dismissed the charge, saying in her order that the law "impermissibly shifts the burden of proof to the Defendant and therefore does not afford due process, and is unconstitutional to the extent due process is not provided."

Her order has officials in areas with red light cameras taking notice, but no one is taking down cameras yet.

Especially not those in Port Richey, where officials plan to appeal Wansboro's ruling.

"We do not agree with the decision," said City Manager Tom O'Neill, who said the city was not notified of any constitutional challenge to its two red light cameras on U.S. 19. "It would be our position that we were not afforded due process and did not have the opportunity to speak."

Wansboro did not return a message Tuesday for comment.

Port Richey city attorney Joe Poblick said officials have also notified the Florida Attorney General's Office of the ruling. The state Constitution requires that the attorney general be notified whenever a state statute's constitutionality is at issue.

Because the order struck down the law on constitutional grounds, any appeal would have to be made to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Brad Weissman, deputy Fort Lauderdale city attorney, said his city has a ruling from Broward County Judge Steven Deluca that says the opposite of Wansboro's order.

"It won't have any effect on us," he said.

Officials in New Port Richey, which also has red light cameras along U.S. 19, discussed the order but said they plan to wait and see.

"I didn't really understand why the judge threw it out," City Manager John Schneiger said of the rule. "That's something we are going to have to look into."

St. Petersburg transportation services director Joe Kubicki said officials also will be keeping tabs.

"We don't see it impacting us," he said. "If it survives the appeals process, then we'll look at our 23 cameras."

It's the same in Hillsborough.

"This is not the first court that has ruled it unconstitutional," said Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon. "We're going to keep operating as we have been."

Brooksville city attorney Robert "Butch" Battista said he had not seen the court ruling and couldn't say how it might affect the ongoing class-action lawsuit filed against the city and American Traffic Solutions in 2009.

Filippone said it should at the very least benefit him and other Pasco drivers.

"I don't think I should get another red light ticket in Pasco County for the rest of my life," he said. "In my opinion, it's precedent."

He said he plans to use it on April 11, when he is due to go to traffic court for a second red light citation at another Port Richey intersection.

Not only should his own citation be dismissed, he plans to argue, but so should the citation for everyone else in the courtroom with a red light camera ticket.

"I'm looking forward to going to court," he said. "I know a lot of people who are infuriated."

j.mccreight@hotmail.com

03-27-2012, 10:39 PM

Red light camera strikes again... Wife busts through the same light as before, the light is red for awhile before she gets there, there is no denying her actions right on red, oh well whats another 75 bucks...how about a tank of gas for the boat...

jdl xstar

03-28-2012, 12:43 PM

Red light camera strikes again... Wife busts through the same light as before, the light is red for awhile before she gets there, there is no denying her actions right on red, oh well whats another 75 bucks...how about a tank of gas for the boat...

That sucks. But I wish mine were on 75 bucks. 158 a pop here in FL. :(